Classified as a “High Research Activity”
university by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching, FAU provides opportunity and choice for its 28,000
students through more than 170 bachelor’s, master’s,
specialist’s and doctoral degree programs. Currently, FAU
awards nearly 6,000 degrees annually, more than 75 percent of those
at the baccalaureate level.

For Fall 2009, average class size at the undergraduate level
is 34 in lectures, 20 in labs and 32 in discussion sections. The
student-to-faculty ratio for undergraduate classes is 18 to 1; 32
percent of undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students while
11 percent of classes have 50 or more students. Graduate-level
lecture classes average 12 students.

A number of FAU’s academic programs have achieved
national recognition. One that consistently stands out is ocean
engineering, a field of study that was pioneered at FAU in 1965
with the establishment of the first such department in the country.
Faculty and student researchers at FAU’s specialized SeaTech
center, located in Dania Beach between the ocean and the
Intracoastal Waterway, conduct millions of dollars of research
annually for the U.S. Navy on autonomous underwater vehicles and
other security-related projects.

FAU’s School of Accounting, a unit of the College of
Business, consistently ranks in the top 10 in the United States for
its students’ high pass rate on the national CPA exam.
Business Week has listed FAU’s online MBA among the
best programs of its kind in the South and has ranked the
University’s executive education program among the best in
the country. Additionally,
Success Magazine has included FAU’s entrepreneurship
program in the top 50 nationally. For two years in a row, The
Princeton Review has included FAU’s College of Business on
its list of the “Best Business Schools” in America..

The University is organized into 10 colleges:
the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs, the
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the Charles E.
Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, the College of Business,
the College of Education, the College of Engineering and
Computer Science, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Charles E. Schmidt
College of Science and the Graduate College.

The
College of
Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs (CAUPA) serves the
"urban mission" of FAU and consists of five academic units. The
School of Architecture, the School of Public Administration and the
School of Urban and Regional Planning are headquartered in the
Florida Atlantic University/Broward College Higher Education
Complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The School of Criminology and
Criminal Justice and the School of Social Work are headquartered on
the Boca Raton campus. CAUPA faculty are also housed at the Jupiter
and Davie campuses. The Juvenile Justice Training Academy, the
Visual Planning Technology Lab and the FAU Florida Institute of
Government are among the college’s centers, institutes and
labs. CAUPA has more than 2,200 students, 350 of them at the
master’s or doctoral level.

The
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters,
one of FAU’s largest colleges, offers 26 bachelor’s
degree programs, 18 minors, 11 certificate programs and 22 graduate
degree programs, including a Ph.D. in comparative studies.
Creativity and critical thinking are the hallmarks of an education
in the arts, humanities and social sciences at the college. A
dedicated faculty of distinguished artists, scholars and
researchers offers degree programs that combine the best of a
traditional arts and liberal arts education with cutting-edge
instruction in the emerging fields of the 21st century. More than
15,000 students have graduated to advanced study and careers in
fields as diverse as law, archaeology, international business and
journalism. In addition, study in the college’s programs has
prepared these students to lead lives of greater aesthetic
richness, civic purpose, resilience and reflection, multicultural
sensitivity and personal challenge. In addition to its majors and
minors, the college offers a range of interdisciplinary certificate
programs and encourages students to add fields such as Ethnic
Studies, Peace Studies and Caribbean and Latin American Studies to
their transcripts. The college offers study-abroad programs in
Italy, Ecuador, Ghana and a range of other locations, preparing its
students to become sophisticated and adaptable citizens of the
world. The college has nearly 4,500 students, more than 400 of them
at the master’s or doctoral level.

The
Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical
Science, created in 2006, is comprised of two departments. The
Department of Clinical Science and Medical Education has become the
administrative home for the University of Miami Miller School of
Medicine at FAU. The Department of Basic Science offers the
master's degree in biomedical science. The Ph.D. degree in
integrative biology, which allows students to pursue interests
across a number of fields, including marine science, biomedical
science, biotechnology and biology, is offered collaboratively with
the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science; courses are taught by
faculty with appointments in both colleges. As clinical faculty are
hired to teach in the four-year regional medical program, new
opportunities are emerging to expand the college's strong
foundation of basic science research into the clinical research
arena. Establishment of the Charles E. Schmidt College of
Biomedical Science has also positioned FAU to partner more
effectively with entities such as Scripps Florida and the Max
Planck Florida Institute in biomedical research initiatives.

The
College of
Business, historically the University’s largest college,
currently has an enrollment of about 8,000 — close to 30
percent of FAU’s entire student body. With core values of
scholarship, creativity, academic service, leadership and ethics,
the college seeks to have a powerful impact on the business
community through nationally recognized academic excellence. The
college offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate degree
programs, including the Ph.D. in business administration and is
accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business (AACSB) — the gold standard in business school
accreditation — through the doctoral level. The
college’s School of Finance, Insurance and Economics brings
together major academic and professional components of the dynamic
financial services industry, generating synergy among various
sectors, including banking and finance, financial planning, stock
brokerage, insurance and financial and economic analysis. The
college seeks to develop a spirit of inquiry in its graduates and
impart relevant techniques for solving problems in a global
business environment. In doing so, it instills skills and knowledge
that serve as a basis for change in a world in which change is the
norm. Additionally, the college provides lifelong learning
experiences through professional weekend programs and centers that
focus on services marketing, technology, entrepreneurship and
international business. The college’s research and services
advance business knowledge by synthesizing ideas in creative ways,
thus contributing to South Florida’s economic vitality and
making the community a better place in which to live and work.

The
College of
Education serves the community of Florida Atlantic University
by providing effective leadership in areas of research, service and
teaching at the local, state, national and international levels,
through the initial and advanced preparation of informed, capable,
ethical and reflective decision-making professionals. The College
of Education is the third largest college at FAU and elementary
education is the number one FAU undergraduate major by enrollment.
The college is one of the most diverse at FAU with 32 percent of
its students representing ethnic minorities. More than 95 percent
of employers report satisfaction with the performance of College of
Education graduates. The college’s A.D. Henderson University
School, Karen Slattery Early Childhood Center and Palm Pointe
Educational Research School are laboratory schools that serve as
sites for teachers-in-training to work with highly qualified master
educators in a model school environment. FAU High School and the
Pine Jog
Environmental Center also provide teacher-training
opportunities. In addition to classroom study, education majors can
develop their skills through varied field experiences that allow
them to learn through observation, clinical practicum placements,
student teaching and innovative earn-and-learn programs such as
those offered by the Florida Institute for the Advancement of
Teaching (FIAT). The Exercise Science and Health Promotion program
has provided students with internships in many work settings,
including the Miami Dolphins, the St. Louis Cardinals, Motorola,
hospitals, health clubs, community centers, not-for-profit and
for-profit organizations and government agencies. The college has
nearly 4,000 students, more than 1,000 of them at the
master’s, specialist’s or doctoral level.

The
College of
Engineering and Computer Science began with the creation of an
innovative and trendsetting ocean engineering program in 1965. The
college has since expanded dramatically and is now known for its
strong teaching and advising, the diversity of its student body,
K-14 outreach programs, collaboration with business and industry,
and the quality and quantity of its research. The college has
recently developed an Innovation Leadership Honors Program for
high-achieving incoming freshmen. A joint B.S./M.S. program allows
students to complete both degrees in five years. The college also
collaborates with the College of Business to offer a minor in
business in all master’s degree programs in engineering.
Undergraduate programs are accredited through the Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology. And, because of the
tremendous impact engineers have on society, the college requires
students in many disciplines to pursue studies in the social
sciences and the humanities. An extensive research program funded
by business, industry and government is a hallmark of the college,
which hosts 13 specialized centers that provide focus for the
college’s research activities. Currently under construction,
the first building in the new College of
Engineering and Computer Science complex on the Boca Raton campus
will be a showcase and “living laboratory” for
sustainable development. The college has an enrollment of
approximately 2,000 students, 300 at the master’s or doctoral
level.

The
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida
Atlantic University, which opened in the fall of 1999, is the first
public honors institution in the United States to be built from the
ground up. Its intellectual foundation is a belief in liberal arts
education as the best preparation for a full and productive life.
Offering a bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts and sciences,
the Honors College program is designed to develop the qualities of
a free and responsible citizen, one who can reason clearly, read
critically and analytically, argue persuasively in speech and in
writing, and contribute to society in fundamental and innovative
ways. By providing broad intellectual training in the liberal arts
and sciences and specialized study in an area of concentration, the
college prepares its students for graduate and professional
schools, such as law and medicine, as well as for careers in
business, science, education and government. With one faculty for
every 10 students, the college offers small classes, and learning
is pursued in both formal and informal settings. Students have the
opportunity to work on research projects one-on-one with
outstanding faculty holding Ph.Ds. from leading universities.
Student/faculty collaborations have resulted in publications in
scholarly journals, and graduates have gone on to some of the top
graduate and professional programs in the country. The college has
325 undergraduate students.

The
Christine E. Lynn
College of Nursing is dedicated to caring: advancing the
science, studying its meaning, practicing the art and living it
day-to-day. Through its excellent faculty and programs on the Boca
Raton, Davie and Treasure Coast campuses, the college offers
bachelor of science, master of science, doctor of nursing practice,
doctor of philosophy and certificate programs to prepare nurses for
practice, leadership and community service. The college offers
three distinct pathways to the bachelor of science in nursing
degree: a traditional two-year, upper-division program; an
accelerated program (a one-year, full-time program for students who
have a bachelor’s degree in another discipline); and an
RN-to-BSN program (a completion program designed for registered
nursing students with a diploma or associate degree in nursing).
The latter program can be completed entirely online. The college
also offers a dual BS-MS program that allows RNs to earn both
degrees in a shorter time than it would normally take and a
BSN-Ph.D. program that allows students with a bachelor in nursing
degree to complete a doctoral degree on an accelerated schedule.
The Christine E. Lynn Center for Caring is a unique research center
focused on humanizing care for the local, regional, national and
international communities. The center is grounded in the caring
philosophy of the college. The college has more than 1,200
students, one-quarter of them at the master’s or doctoral
level.

The
Charles E.
Schmidt College of Science provides educational and research
opportunities for more than 3,500 undergraduates and 500 graduate
students from around the world, through the departments of
biological sciences, chemistry & biochemistry, geosciences,
mathematical sciences, physics and psychology. The college offers
bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in all areas
of science. It has been a pioneer in the development of new,
interdisciplinary programs, including a bachelor’s degree in
psychobiology and Ph.D. programs in chemistry and integrative
biology. Students have the opportunity to work with faculty in many
areas, including bioinformatics, cancer research,
cryptology/computer security, developmental systems, environmental
sciences, geo-information science, hydrology and water resources,
marine biology, natural products chemistry, neuroscience, medical
imaging and space-time physics. The college offers a
post-baccalaureate certificate program in pre-health professions
for students who have a bachelor’s degree in another field
but have since decided to pursue a career in medicine, dentistry or
veterinary medicine. Students interested in marine science can
spend a “Semester by the Sea” at Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institute, FAU’s world-renowned research
center. Physics majors can take classes via distance learning with
the Los Alamos National Lab. Master’s and doctoral degrees
are offered by all college departments.

The
Graduate
College, established in 2008, is the newest addition to
FAU’s family of colleges. Through it, graduate students can
access a host of resources, including thesis and dissertation
guidelines, workshops, important deadline information and
GradTalk, an informative online newsletter. As the Fall 2009 semester
began, the University’s graduate student population stood at
4,149, an all-time high. Graduate credit hours were up by more than
8 percent. Since 2004-05, FAU’s doctoral student population
has increased by 12 percent and the number of doctorates awarded
has gone up by 51 percent.

FAU places high value on providing international education
opportunities to both students and faculty. Through the
Office of
International Programs (OIP), students can study abroad, learn
a new language overseas, engage in international service learning,
join an international freshman learning community and conduct
international research and specialized training in other countries.
Programs are available around the world for summer periods, a
single semester or an entire academic year. Each year hundreds of
students take advantage of opportunities to study abroad. Popular
destinations include Ecuador, Italy, France, Greece, Japan and
Spain. Faculty can learn how to design and lead a study abroad
program for FAU students, apply for funds to explore program
development or locate resources to allow access to overseas
universities for teaching and research activities. OIP invites
faculty (funds permitting) to travel to overseas locations to help
explore new program options and international partners.

In 1967, FAU was elected to membership in the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). At that time, the SACS
Commission on Higher Education granted full accreditation to all of
the University’s programs. In accordance with SACS
regulations, accreditation was reaffirmed in 1972, 1982, 1992 and
2002. Work toward the 2012 re-accreditation is under way. FAU also
holds membership in the National Association of State Universities
and Land-Grant Colleges and the Council of Graduate Schools.